Sales-slip.



A. G. MOWAT.

SALES SLIP.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 23, 1911.

Patented Apr. 30, 1912.

Anoum' SALE.

AMOUNT DzPosiT.

Amum C.0.D.

ADRESS.

Sale: No.

Date.

INVENTOI? COLUMBIA PLANOGIAPI'Q co.. WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER Gr. MOWAT, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, ASSIGNOR TO THE CARTER- CRUME COMPANY, LIMITED, 0F NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION.

SALES-SLIP.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER G. MOWAT, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Toronto, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sales-Slips, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to sales-slips and the like.

One of the objects thereof is to provide a simple and practical form of sales-slip on which certain matter is so formed and disposed as automatically to guard against er rors in use.

Other objects are in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is shown an embodiment of this invention, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view of a set of slips or pad. Fig. 2 is a front view of one of said slips.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout both views.

As conducive to a clearer understanding of one feature of this invention, it may be noted that in the practical use of sales-books there are always blank spaces to be filled in and these spaces, to avoid confusion, are provided with boundary lines. It may also be noted that in the necessarily hurried manipulation of these devices the user, notwithstanding headings, is likely to inscribe data in spaces intended for matter of a wholly different character. The present invention accordingly eliminates this chance of error and achieves other advantages by forming the boundary lines themselves into letters which collectively have such a meaning as to coact with the headings in insuring the entry of data of the proper character.

Referringnow to the drawing in detail, there is shown in Fig. 1 a pad comprising the back 1 and the superposed sheets 2, each of which is weakened as at 3 and 4: by lines Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 28, 1911.

Patented Apr. 30, 1912.

Serial No. 623,894.

of perforations and is folded upon itself to form the slips or leaf portions 5 and 6. A sheet of carbon paper is bound in position at 7 and upon an entry being made upon the upper leaf portion 5 of the topmost sheet, the same will be transmitted to the lower leaf portion 6 and the record thus formed in duplicate removed from the pad at 3 and separated at 4.

In Fig. 2 is shown the arrangement of matter upon the upper leaf portion 5 of each sheet, and inasmuch as identical matter is formed upon the leaf portion 6, registering therewith, this view is an equally accurate representation of the latter. Formed upon the upper portion of the slip are blank spaces 8, 9 and 10 which are respectively outlined and bounded by the large letters G O D. The open form of these letters peculiarly adapts them to serve the above function, and, yet, they have a well established meaning indicative of a method of transacting business in which the charges are to be collected upon actual delivery of the goods. This form of transaction, moreover, is that in which in ordinary retail business errors are most likely to occur and are most costly. If, for example, the blanks data to be filled in by the sales person as in the record of a cash sale or a credit transaction, the goods would be delivered either without compensation or with the charge based upon the credit of a possibly irresponsible party. Moreover, in a C O D transaction, there is often a certain type of data to be filled in by the sales person which is wholly lackingin a cash or credit sale, such as the amount deposited by cash and the amount remaining to be collected on delivery, and unless means are provided to automatically force the sales person to bear in mind the character of the transaction, this important data is likely to be omitted, even though the sale as a whole is conducted upon the C O D basis. There are accordingly provided headings which coact with these letters in, indicating the type of matter to be inscribed therein, and it is to be noted that the letters themselves are preferably formed in a distinctive color with respect to other matter upon the slip to render them more prominent. There are also provided upon the slip, preferably below the above matter, spaces 11 for the name and address of the purchaser.

and other blanks as at 12 for further data, as well as proper ruling 13 on the body of the slip for the entry of the items. All of these entries are, of course, transmitted upon inscription to the duplicate leaf portion.

It is to be understood that the expression sales slip is used throughout to designate any sheet or leaf of the general character or that described, whether single or so arranged as to form a number of records, as in patent to Rogers, No. 419,359, granted January 14-, 1890. It is also to be understood that the transferring medium instead of being a separate sheet may take the form of a coating formed on the rear surface of a leaf portion, as in the above patent.

In the use of the device above described, the sales person first encounters the blanks formed by the large letters and the shape of these spaces enforces upon the attention the general character of the matter to be inscribed, even though the wording of the headings were overlooked. The latter, however, coact with the letters in calling for the details oi the data, and it is substantially insured that these details in complete form will be furnished. With this matter fixed in the mind of the sales person, the name and address blanks, which are peculiarly important in a transaction of this character, are then filled in and the chance of omission is reduced to a minimum. The original copy may then be handed to the customer and the prominent position of the large letters immediately evidences the character of the sale, and it the buyer intended a credit transaction, the mistake can be remedied at this stage. The duplicate is detached and after passing through the checker, packer, auditor or other employees, is then carried by the delivery man wit-h the goods, and the large letters again not only serve as a reminder that charges are to be collected upon delivery, but draw the eye to the particular point at which the amount to be collected is inscribed.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a form of sales slip in which various matter is so formed thereon as automatically to eliminate errors in practical use, and it will also be seen that this is attained without increase in the costof the device or complication of its use. The letters which are to be emphasized, moreover, may by the above arrangement be made of such size as to be extremely prominent, all without consump tion of extra space, due to their combined functions of having an intrinsic meaning and serving to outline spaces within which data called for by that meaning is to be inscribed.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this inven tion could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A sales slip having printed thereon a plurality of large letters associated one with another and having collectively a meaning, said slip and letters being formed to provide blank spaces in the letters adapted to receive an entry, and headii'igs printed upon said slip in relatively small type respectively associated with said blank spaces to indicate the character of the data to be inscribed thereon.

2. A sales slip having printed thereon a plurality of large letters associated one with another and having collectively a meaning, said slip and letters being formed to provide blank spaces in the letters adapted to receive an entry, and headings printed upon said slip in relatively small type respectively associated with said blank spaces to indicate the character of the data to be inscribed thereon, said large letters being printed in a distinctive color with respect to the headings.

3. A leaf or sheet of the character described formed to provide two superposed portions and having between said portions a transferring medium, each of said portions having printed thereon matter of identical size and disposition, said matter comprising a plurality of large letters associated one with another and having collectively a meaning distinct from their separate meanings, and said letters being formed to provide blank spaces adapted to receive entries of a character associated with said meaning.

4. A sales slip having provided thereon a plurality of letters associated one with another and of such size and form as to provide blank spaces within their inner outlines adapted to receive an entry, said letters having collectively a meaning dillerent from their individual meanings and indicative of the character of certain data to be inscribed therein, and headings printed upon said slip in relatively small type respectively as sociated with said. blank spaces and indicating data to be inscribed therein of a character related to the collective meaning of said letters.

5. A sales slip having provided thereon a plurality of large letters associated one with another and formed to provide blank spaces in the letters adapted to receive an entry, said large letters having collectively a meaning distinct from their individual meanings and indicative of the character of certain data to be inscribed therein, and headings printed upon said slip in relatively small type respectively associated with said blank spaces to indicate the character of the data to be inscribed therein.

6. A sales slip having formed thereon the letters C O D in type of such size as to provide blank spaces therein adapted to receive an entry, and headings printed upon said slip in relatively small type and associated with one or more of said blank spaces to indicate the character of data to be inscribed 10 in a transaction of the nature of that denoted by said large letters.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in the presence of two Witnesses.

A. G. MOWAT. Witnesses:

R. D. LUNDY, E. W. E. SAUNDERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 150%,522, granted April 30, 1912, upon the application of Alexander C. Mowat, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for an improvement in Sales-Slips, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 1, line 84, for the Words data to be filled in read were erroneously filled out; and that the said Letters Patent should be read With this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Ofiice.

Signed and sealed this 28th day of May, A. D., 1912.

[SEAL] G. C. BILLINGS,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

